A Year in the Life
by The Purple Sheep
Summary: One shots from different occasions in the year 1988. These are the stories of how Harry spent Easter, his birthday, Halloween and Christmas in the year he turned 8. Harry feels sad and lonely, but is very appreciative of the small gifts he finds in his cupboard, left there from a mysterious presence.
1. Chapter 1

Easter ~ April 3rd 1988

Harry Potter awoke on Sunday morning to the sound of heavy thudded footsteps coming down the stairs above his cupboard. Every morning, he was usually rewarded with his cousin thumping down the stairs to make dust fall on him, but today his cousin seemed to jump down each step with excitement. It took Harry a few seconds to remember; today was Easter. Easter was one of those special holidays that occurred every year that meant excitement for normal children, and a day of misery for him, the Freak that lived in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry stayed lying in bed while he heard his cousin talking to Aunt Petunia in the kitchen. There was no point getting up until either his Aunt or Uncle unlocked his cupboard door as he couldn't get out. He put on his glasses and amused himself by watching a spider crawling around on its web in a corner of a step above his head. He was not afraid of spiders: they were his friends. After about five minutes, a sharp knock was sounded on his cupboard door and he heard the click of the lock.

"Get up. You're to make breakfast whilst Dudley goes on his Easter egg hunt. Hurry up," said Harry's aunt.

"Yes Aunt Petunia," he replied and sat up and quickly got changed into some of Dudley's massive hand-me-downs. Whilst he got dressed, he heard the even louder thumping of his uncle stomping down the stairs. He waited until his uncle had walked through the hallway until he opened his cupboard door and stepped out into the hallway. He walked into the kitchen and sleepily rubbed his eyes. Out the kitchen window he could see his cousin running around the garden looking for chocolate in delight whilst his aunt and uncle watched him chuckling at his enjoyment. Harry felt a pang of jealousy and envy for his cousin. He had never tasted chocolate before. He simply wasn't allowed treats like that. Chocolate was for good boys, normal boys. Harry wasn't either of those things.

He sighed and started cooking the bacon and eggs in the frying pan. He popped some bread in the toaster and set the table with plates and cutlery. He only set the table for three. Meal times were 'Family Time' and according to Uncle Vernon, Harry was not part of the family. He went back to finish cooking the eggs and bacon and flipped them out onto a plate which he placed in the middle of the table. He then got the toast out of the toaster and placed the stack on a plate and put it on the table too. His tummy growled as he looked at the two plates of food and his mouth watered at the smell of the bacon.

He went to the back door and called out, "Breakfast is ready!" In return he received a nasty glance from his Aunt and Uncle as if he were interrupting something really important, but was knocked aside from his fat cousin who came running past at the mention of food. Rubbing his arm where Dudley had knocked him, he went back into the kitchen to start doing dishes and looked at the basket full of Easter eggs and bunnies and he felt sad that all that chocolate was for Dudley. He sometimes wondered why the Easter Bunny didn't leave any eggs for him but was often reminded by his uncle that he was a bad boy and didn't deserve any. Only normal boys got chocolate, and he was a Freak. He washed the frying pan and spatula in the sink, dried it and then put it away. His relatives had now finished and he cleared the table whilst they went to sit in the lounge room so Dudley could show his parents his collection of chocolate. Harry washed and dried the rest of the dishes and put them away and then poured himself a glass of water. He drank it quickly before going back to his cupboard where he was to stay until he was issued chores for the day.

He was not allowed out of his cupboard except to do chores on celebrations or special holidays like Easter as they were family days, and he was not part of the family. A few tears escaped his eyes as he sat down on his mattress back in his cupboard whilst he imagined what it would be like to be a normal boy and get to eat chocolate and spend days with his family. Suddenly he noticed a flash of blue and saw one little Easter egg wrapped in pretty blue paper. He wiped away his tears and stared in shock at the little egg sitting on his shelf. Harry wondered how it got there and picked it up, examining it closely in his little hands. He slowly unwrapped it and placed it in his mouth. The effect was almost instantaneous, a big smile formed on his face and his eyes lit up and the sweet taste of the chocolate melting on his tongue. In that moment, he felt slightly less alone as he thanked whoever had sent him that one small egg. In that moment, he felt like perhaps he wasn't a Freak, and was part of a different family to the Dursleys. In that moment, he felt a small amount of happiness for once in his life, and that was enough for him.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry's Birthday ~ 31st July 1988

Harry awoke early on this Sunday. He struggled to remember the dream he had had but it was fading quickly from his mind. He could remember seeing two faces smiling down at him, talking to him. One was a woman with beautiful long red hair and green eyes just like his own. The other face was a man with hazel eyes behind a pair of round glasses. The man had messy black hair just like Harry. In Harry's heart, he hoped that they were his parents and that it was a memory. But his head said otherwise, it reminded him of how his Aunt and Uncle said many times that his parents were 'no-good losers who drove whilst drunk and got themselves killed in a car crash'. They often told him that they never loved him or looked after him properly and that he should be grateful that he lived here now. But Harry still hoped in his heart.

He was thinking about what chores he would be expected to do today when he realised it was his birthday! (Not that that fact excused him from any chores). No, today he would be treated just like he would any other day as his birthday was not celebrated and barely acknowledged at all. Harry's birthdays were very different to those of his Cousin Dudley's. Dudley got to have a party with all his friends where he received many presents and got a big birthday cake every year. Harry had never had a party or gotten to eat cake. When Dudley had his parties, Harry would spend the day in his cupboard, only allowed out when Dudley wanted to play a game he called 'Harry Hunting', which involved chasing Harry around the neighbourhood. Unlike the game of tiggy, when Harry got caught, he got beaten up rather than 'tagged'. On this particular day, Harry was turning eight years old, which was a big number for him. However he didn't feel much older as he lay on his bumpy mattress looking at the stairs above. They were blurry, as he hadn't put on his glasses yet. His glasses had sticky tape around the bridge because of all the times when Dudley had punched him on the nose.

Harry didn't know what the time was when he awoke, but knew he lay in his cupboard, thinking, for a long time before anybody else in the house had woken up. As today was a Sunday, the rest of his family like to sleep in, but Harry never managed to as his body clock was used to waking up early. Harry knew that when his relatives got up, he would be expected to make breakfast; the Sunday specialty was pancakes. His tummy growled as he thought about the giant stack of pancakes he would be making later that would get devoured by his cousin. He licked his lips and imagined what pancakes tasted like. He had tried the batter one time whilst making him (which earned him a smack on the head by Aunt Petunia) but it didn't taste very nice. He supposed the enormous amount of maple syrup that Dudley liked to pour on his pancakes helped to sweeten the flavour, but Harry thought that Dudley may as well just drink a cup of maple syrup for breakfast instead of making him cook the pancakes, as the ratio of syrup to pancakes on Dudley's plate was about 3:1. Harry thought that it was no wonder that Dudley was so fat and he was so skinny.

Harry heard light footsteps walking down the stairs above him and realised that they must belong to Aunt Petunia as they were too quiet for Dudley or Uncle Vernon. Aunt Petunia unlocked his cupboard door and told him to get up and get breakfast ready for when the others woke up. Harry put on his glasses and put on some relatively clean clothes and went into the kitchen to start preparing the pancakes. He got the ingredients out and started mixing them together to make the batter. Aunt Petunia had sat down at the table and was reading the paper that she had brought in from the front doorstep. She huffed distastefully at something and Harry guessed it was probably the weather forecast. It had been really hot the last couple of days and she was probably annoyed that her garden might die. He would probably be spending regular trips outside to water the garden today. He heated up the frying pan and started spooning in the mixture to make perfectly round pancakes: he had had years of practise. Harry heard the thumping of his cousin coming down the stairs and sure enough, a few seconds later, he burst through the door into the kitchen and dining area demanding pancakes.

"I'm hungry, where's my pancakes!?" he whined loudly.

"Don't worry Diddykins, Harry should be finished making them by now," she said smiling at her son sweetly before giving Harry a stern look that clearly meant 'hurry up'. He flipped over the first lot and let them cook for a further two minutes before putting them on a plate and bringing it over to Dudley.

"That's not enough," Dudley complained.

"There's still more batter for me to cook more," Harry snapped. He was sick of his cousin's impatience. At least he got to eat them while Harry got none. He returned to the stove and poured in the rest of the mixture just as his Uncle walked in the door.

"Good morning," he addressed the room. Harry turned and looked at him. "Not you," Vernon snarled before joining his wife and son at the table. Harry finished cooking the last of the pancakes before placing them down on the table.

"Where's my coffee boy?" Vernon asked him.

"Coming Uncle," Harry replied before rushing off to boil the kettle. He made it with Vernon's preferred two teaspoons of sugar and brought it over to the table. Harry stood there not moving as though waiting for something. Petunia put the paper down and handed it to Vernon before looking up and realising that Harry was still there. Vernon looked up too and said, "What do you want boy?"

"Umm, I was just wondering if you knew what day it was…" Harry began.

"Of course I know what day it is, are you being smart with me?" Vernon replied.

"No I'm not!" Harry insisted. "It's just that today is the 31st of July," he said in a small voice.

"And?" Petunia said.

"It's my birthday…" he said very quietly, looking down at his toes with his hand behind his back.

Aunt Petunia pursed her lips, but Vernon laughed and said, "So? What makes you think that we care about that?"

Dudley started giggling and poked his tongue out at Harry.

"Sorry Uncle, I just thought-"

"Oh you just thought did you? How about instead of using your tiny to brain to think, you get down on your hands and knees outside and weed the garden. After that you can water all the plants. I don't want to see you inside until it's time for lunch. Got it?" Uncle Vernon said meanly.

Dudley was still laughed at Harry as he nodded and went outside to spend a long morning tending to the garden in the hot sun. He was sweating by the time he was finished and it was 12 O'clock, time to come in to have lunch. Lucky for Harry, Aunt Petunia had decided to make sandwiches which meant that Harry didn't have to cook anything. He felt really tired. She brought her salad sandwich along with Vernon and Dudley's steak and salad sandwiches to the table to eat whilst Harry went into the kitchen where he found a plain sandwich with a bit of cheese in it on the kitchen bench. It was not much, but it was better than nothing, and Harry ate it quickly as he was very hungry from not having any breakfast. He poured himself a glass of water and pressed it to his forehead for a while and closed his eyes at the nice cool glass on his face. He was very hot from being in the sun all morning and he hoped he wouldn't have to go back outside again.

"You're finished lunch already? Good, you can do the dishes," Petunia called from the dinner table, noticing Harry relaxing with her sharp eyes.

"Yes Aunt Petunia," Harry replied before obediently filling up the sink with hot soapy water and washing all the dishes. Once he noticed that the others were finished their lunch, he hurried to clear the table before finishing up the rest of the dishes and putting them away. Aunt Petunia went to read a magazine, Dudley went upstairs to play with his numerous toys in his bedroom and Vernon sat down on the couch to watch TV. Harry hardly dared to believe it, neither his Aunt nor his Uncle had given him a new chore to complete, he could do what he liked! He decided to go back to his cupboard and read a book he had borrowed from the school library for the summer. He spent the rest of the afternoon off as his Aunt and Uncle seemed to have forgotten about him. For most children, their parents or guardians ignoring them on their birthday would have been a disaster, but for Harry, he was happy to have no chores to do. Even Dudley was too lazy in the heat to feel like chasing him around and Harry got to spend his afternoon reading in his cupboard with no one to boss him around.

He was rudely interrupted come dinner time though when his Aunt wanted him to finish cooking the dinner. She had started the roast by placing some vegetable and chicken in the oven but she wanted Harry to do the rest so she could call one of her friends to gossip. At 6 O'clock, dinner was finished cooking and he called his relatives to the table. He successfully managed to carry the dish with the chicken on it to the table, which was quite an accomplishment for someone as small as Harry. But when he was bringing the roast vegetables over, unnoticed by Petunia or Vernon, Dudley stuck out his foot and to Harry's horror, he tripped, sending the dish flying and it broke on the floor, spilling the vegetables on the carpet. Harry was immediately scared as he knew he had been bad and was going to get in big trouble. It had been an accident, well Harry tripping over had been. Dudley had obviously purposely stuck out his foot at Harry but there was no use explaining that to his Aunt and Uncle. They were furious.

"Stand up! Now!" yelled Vernon angrily at Harry. Harry got up shaking and turned to face Vernon. He was rewarded with a slap to the face and he fell back down again from the force of it. His eyes started watering and the left side of his face was stinging.

"How dare you, you did this on purpose because you wanted birthday presents. Or did you want a party? How pathetic," Vernon snarled at Harry.

"You are a selfish and ungrateful brat!" he yelled getting angrier.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to it was an accident!" Harry whimpered standing up again.

"Shut up!" Vernon yelled. "You wanted a birthday present? Well I'm going to give you one," Vernon said. Then he punched Harry forcefully in the face which sent him flying back against the wall. Harry hit his head hard and saw stars before crumpling down onto the floor. His Uncle ordered Harry to get up and go to his cupboard where he would stay with no meals for a week. Harry slowly stood up with his eyes closed as he felt dizzy. He could hear Dudley laughing as he felt he way along the hallway to his cupboard door and pulled it open. Vernon had come up behind him and pushed him in hard and then locked the door before returning to the dinner table. Harry collapsed on his bed and cried quietly until he had no more tears left. The back of his head was aching and his nose felt very sore.

He suddenly noticed a flickering light and looked down. There, sitting on a plate on the ground was one slice of cake with a lit candle stuck in the top of multi-coloured butter cream icing. Harry was shocked, and suddenly felt excited. Somehow, this piece of birthday cake had found its way into his cupboard, just when he had been feeling completely alone and miserable. Harry knew what to do, he had heard Dudley teasing him about never getting to make a wish and blow out the candles on his birthday cake. He sat up on his bed and picked up the cake and brought it close to him. He whispered "Happy birthday Harry" to himself before closing his eyes and blowing out the candle. As he blew it out, he made a wish for a better future. He wished that one day, he would have a proper party where he could celebrate his birthday. He wished that one day, he would have a proper family. Then he picked up the candle and placed it on his shelf next to the blue Easter egg wrapper. Smiling, he enjoyed his first piece of cake ever and thought that maybe this birthday wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
